Tension-thread guide



Sept. 11, 1923. 1,467,443

A. A. MERRITT TENSION THREAD GUIDE Original Filed May 11, 1920 IIIIIII I! mmwm Patented Sept. 11, 1923.

warren stares 1 1,467,443 EM OF' 'CE-IB ARTHUR A. MERBITT, or woRcES'rEn, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR o wILLcoX &

GIBBS SEWING MACHINE 00., on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CO PO TION or new lYoan,

TEN ION-THREAD GUIDE.

Application filed May 11, 1920, Serial at. 380,514;- Renewed February 7 1923! L I 1 T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of lVorcester, Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tension- Thread Guides, which invention is fully set forth in the following specification. f

This invention relates to thread tension guides usable wherever it is desirableto impose tension upon a thread in guiding the same from one point to another, but designed especially for use in feeding threads from cones or bobbins to power operated sewing machines in factories or mills; For example, in the operation of the machine known commercially as the VVillcoX & Gibbs Sewing Machine Companys fiatlock'machine, shown, for eXample,in the patent to A. A. Merritt, No. 1,041,652, dated October 15, 1912, the four looper threads, four needle threads, and one cross-threadnine threads in all-are supplied from nine cones or bobbins respectively. These thread cones are mounted on a stand, each thread being led upward from its cone through an overhanging thread guide on the stand, thence in a downward direction to athread eye of the machine, and thence between tension disks of the'tensioning mechanism of the machine.

It has'been found by experience that kinks or loose loops occur quite frequentlyespecially in thread which is dry or which-has a considerable twist, and such kinks or loops,

if not straightened out, will get to and between the tension' disks or plates and be there held as a knot resulting in breaking of the thread at the needles orelsewhere at some point between the tension plates and the point where the thread should beset in the fabrics seam. Thus. these kinks or loops act with the same effect as knotsand are just as troublesome in interfering with and interrupting the operation of the machine.

An objectof the present invention is to straighten out such kinks or loose loops before the same can reach the tension mechanism of the sewing machine and preferably directly after the thread leaves its cone. This I am enabled to accomplish bypassing the thread from the cone through a thread tension guide of the present invention by which a slight tensionmay be applied to the thread to straighten out kinks orloose loops before the thread reaches the sewing machine. 1

' 7 It has also been found desirable in the operation of said fiatlock machine, for-the purposev of assuring evenness of appearance .on the underside of the seam formedthereby, to provide extra tensioning means for individually and separately tensioning some one or more of the threads, particularly the four needle threads, to attain a tension balance between the four rows of stitches such as cannot always be attained 'by adj ustment' ofthe regular tension means of the machine in which the tensionplatesofeachgroup of such platesare pressed together bylneans common to all of the plates of the group. Use of thread tension guides of the present invention enables each thread to be ten- Sioned P'endently-of other threads:

: Still other objects areattainedas' will -be apparent from the accompanying drawings and'detailed description of whatis n'ow regarded' as the preferred embodiment'of'the lnvention." I v In said clrawings V Fig. 1 isfa'vie'w in elevation; Fig; 2 is'a' longitudinal section on line Figs. '3 and 4 are detailed views-"of the fixed andfadjustablemembersof the device respectively; I

' rFigzo is a view inelevation of a slightly modified f0rm;- and" j Figs-dis a view showing thedevicepositioned on a threadstand betweena-thread cone and a I chinef" I The thread tension guide of this invenftion comprises a fixed member'or stem vpart 10 and a movable" adj ustable sleeve member or'thimble 15-. I1 w At one-end stem 10 is screw-threaded for engagement with any suitable support; at its other end it hascylindrica-l portions 11 andf12 of slightly differentdiameters; and between said end portions thereis-a:-'cylindrical portion 13 with a large thread eye *or'passage 14 therethrough. The adjustable member l 5- has a cylindrical outer surface; at one end it has a knurled enlargement or head'16 and at'its inner end it'is'bored out to'form a leeve portion 17 adapted to tel e scope over the-=outer-end=-of the fiizedst'em upto the shoulder l8 thereoff Theboriiig of the sleeve is such 'thatits interior diameter isslightly smallerat the'oute'r end -of-the sleeve at 19 than'a't theinner end thereof ;ment to which it is rotated. A large thread eye or passage 22 extends diagonally through the outer end of the adjustable sleeve member 15', one end thereof being positioned in the cylindrical side wall of said member and the other end in the center of the end wall of head 16. r i

In Fig. 1, the thread 23 is shownas passing upward from any suitable source of supply-through thread eye 22, thence spirally approximately one and one-half times around the cylindrical surface of the device and through thread eye 14:, and thence in;a downward direction to a sewing machine not shown. The passage of the thread along and around the cylindrical surface between'the thread eyes increases the friction and hence the tension on the thread in its passage through the device, and it is obvious thatby gripping the knurled head 16 and turning adjustable member 15 on the fixed stem member 10 toward the left 111*. :Fig. 1, the spirality of the path ofthe thread may be decreased and the friction and tension upon the thread correspondingly lessened. The opposite effect may be obtained by a reverse adjustment of the member 15, that is by turning it toward the right in Fig. 1.,

By the use and adjustment of such a tension thread guide the desir'edtension may be imposed upon a thread-to straighten out kinkso'r loose loops in drawing the thread from a cone, bobbin, or the'l-ike,'or to adjust the tension to that required for proper stitch or seam formation, or for other purpose; I I i In the modified structure of Fig. 5 a slot 24 leads into the thread-eyeor passage 25;

in other words, an open thread eye is provided'in place of the closed thread-eye 14 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 6 shows a thread cone 26 mounted on a thread stand (only part of which is shown), the thread being led upward from the cone through a tension thread guide of the present invention supported by an overhanging arm of the stand, thence downward through a thread guiding plate 28 and between tension plates 29. Said plate 28 corresponds to plate 657, and said tension plates 29 to similar plates653, of Fig. 52 of the aforesaid Merritt Patent 1,041,652 on the aforesaid 'flatlock' machine of the Willcox &' Gibbs Sewing Machine Company. There-is thus interposed-between the thread cone and the sewing machine a tension thread guide which may be adjusted to impose upon the thread suitable tension for straightening out kinks or loose loops before the same can reach the tension plates of the machine and a tension such as required for that particular thread in the formation of the stitch or seam of which it becomes-a part.

What I claim is 1. In a tension thread guide, a stem member having a thread-eye, and adapted to be attached at one end to a support and a sleeve member also having a thread-eye and embracing the free end of said stem and having rotatable adjustment thereon, said members providing a surface along which the thread passes from one of said threadeyes to the other in a more or less spiral path variable to increase or decrease the tension upon the thread by rotatably adjusting the sleeve member on the stem.-

2. In a tension thread guide, a fixed stem *member having a thread-eye, and a sleeve member also having a thread-eye and embracing a portion of said stem of reduced diameter and having rotatable adjustment thereon, said members provldlng a surface along which the thread passes from one of said'thre-ad-eyes to the other in a more or less spiral path variable to increase or de crease the tension upon the thread by ro- -tatably;adjusting the sleeve member on the stem;

socket portion frictionally embracing but rotatively adjustable on a cylindrical end portionof the stem member, said members providing a surface along which the thread passes from one of said thread-eyes to the other in a more or less spiral path variable to increase or decrease the tension upon the thread by rotatably adjusting the sleeve member on the stem.

1. In 'a thread tension: guide, a fixed stem member having a thread-eye therethrough, and a relatively adjustable cylindrical member also having a thread-eye therethrough and socketed in one end to form a sleeve portion-,frictionally embracing a cylindrical end portion of the stem and rotatively adjustable thereon, said members providing a surface along which the thread passes from one of said thread-eyes to the other in a more or less spiralpath variable to increase or decrease the tension upon the thread by rotatably adjusting the sleeve member on the stem.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.-

ARTHUR A. 'MERRITT. 

